Not a fan of PF1 generally, unless I'm in the mood for some ultra-gonzo play. Kinda wish there were a "cautiously optimistic," since that fits better than "intrigued" or "not a fan" (which is what I picked, being closest to true). I'm equal parts DEEPLY skeptical that they can actually fix the holes in the 3e ruleset...and hopeful they'll actually pull it off. The degree to which the (fluffy, egregiously corp-speak-laden) announcement/FAQ actually seems to reference 4e, in addition to 5e is part of what nurtures that hope in defiance of my skepticism.

I was a Pathfinder fan and a *huge* Paizo fanboy for a long time, but the constant parade of new books really ruined PF for me. The game was always breakable, and option creep just shattered any pretense of balance.
I do want to see the rules first, as I have reservations.

But I really dig 5e, so it will be hard pulling me away from that edition. However, my players might really appreciate a game halfway between PF and 5e, with more building and character customization.
And I do have some PF adventures I would like to play through. I *might* put my 5e game on hold and run and updated Carrion Crown or Emerald Spire for a couple months.

Okay… I say that I want to playtest, but I probably won't.
My players will likely only be halfway through the Tomb of Annihilation and have spent six months doing 5e/ fantasy. If we wanted to take a break, it would be to play FFG's Edge of the Empire or Star Trek Adventures. We won't be ready to hit the playtest during the small window of actually being able to test through play.
The playtest period isn't particularly long. It's a year between the playtest book being released and the final book coming out, but with layout, printing, shipping and the like they'll need to lock in the rules by January or February. Previous PFRPG hardcover playtests for GenCon releases have wrapped up in December. And having seen narrow playtest times and hard deadlines result Mythic Adventures and the Advanced Class Guide, I'm a little wary with what will happen with a full ruleset and twelve classes.

They're saying Starfinder tested a few of the new mechanics… but that was pretty heavily 3e. Star Wars Saga went farther in terms of innovation and changing the game than Starfinder (and that game predated Pathfinder. And having seen some of the teased changes in Pathfinder Unchained, I want to see if they've been improved. (The three action system in particular was problematic and much slower than Standard/Move/Swift.)

Having bought 3e, and 3.5e, and Pathfinder, and Starfinder, and Star Wars Saga, and Midnight, and Iron Heroes I've bought a heck of a lot of variations on d20. I have that ruleset. I have it in spades. I don't really need it again.
Pathfinder 2nd Edition really needs to get away from the baseline math and rules of 3e and remake the game. Actually rebuild and fix 3e rather than just building yet another game on old, shaky foundation.

Generally, I'm a fan of high-quality publishers and long standing product ownership.

I did not support WoTC's purchase of TSR. I do not like Magic the Gathering owning D&D. That's an oversimplified argument at best because the other option is no D&D at all.

I do prefer D&D 4e over any previous or future version of D&D. Why? Because I believe that WoTC truly owns that and I'm a tabletop war gamer by genome. When they moved to 5e, I didn't like it.

My love for Paizo is due to their extremely high production values and the feeling that they're truly invested in their product. (Even if I didn't play PF 1e much) No Hasbro behind them to screw things over or protect them. If it sucks they fix it. So I'll be subscribing to 2e, dropping 5e and keeping my collection of 4e stuff.

Helps that I write a lot of stuff, have no problem converting things on the fly, and waited to get into 5e until it matured some.

Never been a fan of Pathfinder 1 or D&D 3.5. But Pathfinder 2 intrigues me. It seems to go for the right balance of streamlined game-play and complexity that I'm looking for, and it might address some weaknesses that I see in 5th edition, including equipment, travel rules, downtime, and skill variety.

I'm intrigued if only to see if I can mine ideas for 5e, which I love too much to walk away from. I guess there's an outside chance that the two systems are largely compatible and if that was true I'd instantly shoot up to my precious. I already like the idea of rolling stealth for initiative in certain situations. Yoink!

I think it's a classic case of chasing after people who don't like your game while alienating people who do like your game.

And a cash grab on top. One of PF's strengths was all the classes and monsters. Now instead of having to be creative and come up with new ones, they can just sell people the stuff they took away over the next 10 years, in time for PF3 and repeat.

I was a Pathfinder fan and a *huge* Paizo fanboy for a long time, but the constant parade of new books really ruined PF for me. The game was always breakable, and option creep just shattered any pretense of balance.
I do want to see the rules first, as I have reservations.

But I really dig 5e, so it will be hard pulling me away from that edition. However, my players might really appreciate a game halfway between PF and 5e, with more building and character customization.
And I do have some PF adventures I would like to play through. I *might* put my 5e game on hold and run and updated Carrion Crown or Emerald Spire for a couple months.

Okay… I say that I want to playtest, but I probably won't.
My players will likely only be halfway through the Tomb of Annihilation and have spent six months doing 5e/ fantasy. If we wanted to take a break, it would be to play FFG's Edge of the Empire or Star Trek Adventures. We won't be ready to hit the playtest during the small window of actually being able to test through play.
The playtest period isn't particularly long. It's a year between the playtest book being released and the final book coming out, but with layout, printing, shipping and the like they'll need to lock in the rules by January or February. Previous PFRPG hardcover playtests for GenCon releases have wrapped up in December. And having seen narrow playtest times and hard deadlines result Mythic Adventures and the Advanced Class Guide, I'm a little wary with what will happen with a full ruleset and twelve classes.

They're saying Starfinder tested a few of the new mechanics… but that was pretty heavily 3e. Star Wars Saga went farther in terms of innovation and changing the game than Starfinder (and that game predated Pathfinder. And having seen some of the teased changes in Pathfinder Unchained, I want to see if they've been improved. (The three action system in particular was problematic and much slower than Standard/Move/Swift.)

Having bought 3e, and 3.5e, and Pathfinder, and Starfinder, and Star Wars Saga, and Midnight, and Iron Heroes I've bought a heck of a lot of variations on d20. I have that ruleset. I have it in spades. I don't really need it again.
Pathfinder 2nd Edition really needs to get away from the baseline math and rules of 3e and remake the game. Actually rebuild and fix 3e rather than just building yet another game on old, shaky foundation.

This is pretty much where I'm at. I really enjoy the adventures that Paizo put out and I'm sure at least a couple of my players would enjoy a slightly crunchier system than 5E. That said, we're pretty happy with 5E at the moment, so it would take something pretty awesome to get us to drop that and play Pathfinder v2.0.

Will I give the new system a look? Almost certainly? Will I run a Pathfinder 2.0 campaign? Maybe, but probably not. Will my group be dropping 5E to play Pathfinder 2.0? It seems unlikely at this point.

EN World Reviews

Mists of Akuma may be the Meiji – Punk post-apocalypse RPG setting you never knew that you needed. The game enlists your character in the tragic tale that is Soburin, offering a dizzying array of possible cultural hooks to embrace.

Even though I’ve played and enjoyed just about every edition of Dungeons & Dragons, with an exception to 4th, I’ve pretty much stayed out of the fray in regards to D&D clones. I’ve somewhat maintained the semblance of a semi-regular D&D Basic campaign (live game) for about two years, primarily relying on the Rules Cyclopedia, and occasionally mixing (and experimenting) in elements from games like HackMaster as well as more recently, Lamentations of the Flame Princess. Like any role-playing alchemist, I’ll never stop mixing. And since Mazes & Perils Deluxe Edition is a clone of Holmes Basic D&D, I’m eager to take a closer look.

This is the Free Trader Beowulf, calling anyone…. Mayday. Mayday…. We are under attack…. Main drive is gone… Turret number one not responding…. Mayday…. Losing cabin pressure fast calling anyone…. Please help…. This is the Free Trader Beowulf…. Mayday…. Bold explorers and brave travellers journey between the stars in Traveller the science fiction roleplaying game by Mongoose Publishing.

I love zines. And, really, who doesn't? Zines are the ultimate expression of the DIY (do-it-yourself) aesthetic that has always been central to role-playing games. With crowd funding sites like Patreon, zines can become, while perhaps not profitable but at least self-sustaining. Kobold Press is using the site to bring out their print zine for Dungeons & Dragons 5E, Warlock. Let's take a look at the most recent couple of issues.

Welcome once more to our monthly roundup of offerings from the Statosphere, the community-generated content portal for the Unknown Armies RPG. This month, we're taking a look at a trio of titles to drop into—or even kick off—your campaigns.